Chinese president arrives in South Korea

Wednesday, July 02, 2014 - 00:28

China's Xi Jinping arrives in South Korea for his first state visit to the country as President. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in South Korea on Thursday (July 3), in the hopes of strengthening commercial and diplomatic ties while Seoul is expected to push Beijing to increase pressure on ally North Korea to end its pursuit of nuclear arms.
Xi and his wife Peng Liuan arrived at an airport in Seongnam on the outskirts of Seoul and were greeted by South Korean officials including South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.
The visit will include Xi's fifth summit meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-hye since they both took office last year.
The events in the South will be watched closely in the North, which has test-fired short-range missiles and rockets from its east coast three times in the past week and threatened on Thursday to continue doing so.
North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes, for which it is under U.N. sanctions, and its plan to hold a fourth nuclear test, will be high on the agenda, officials in Seoul said.
Xi, accompanied by a delegation of Chinese business heavyweights, will court stronger economic ties with South Korea, a major trade partner, and express commitment to conclude a free trade deal to boost an already robust commercial relationship worth $230 billion annually.